46 years old; bachelor's degree, Yale University, 1982. Mr. Sorkin spent 11 years at Dean Witter Realty Inc., where among other duties he managed the shopping center portfolio. (One of his first deals was the purchase of condominium interests at 400 E. Ohio St. in Streeterville.) Since 1994 he's been a private entrepreneur in the U.S. and Canada and since 2000 a director at Immtech, where he holds about 350,000 shares.

He led Immtech's recapitalization several years ago, helping change it from a biology-based firm to a pharmaceutical company. The company remains unprofitable, gaining most of its cash from research grants and investors.

Job one:

Commercializing its main compound currently in two different Phase III trials: one for African sleeping sickness and the other for pneumocystis pneumonia, which afflicts individuals in rich and poor countries with a weakened immune system. In the longer term, guide the company to profitability. The company has spent about $78 million in drug development since its 1984 formation.

Obstacles:

The drugs under development mostly treat diseases found in poor countries. "When you're dealing with a disease like African sleeping sickness, the United States capital market doesn't really seem to care much about it," he says. Immtech, which went public in 1999, trades at about $8 per share. At the same time, running a drug trial in rural Africa can be tough: once cured, many patients return to nomadic lives, making follow-up on survival rates difficult.

The plan:

For drug candidates potentially sold in developing countries, seek to line up not-for-profit foundation buyers. At the same time the company is looking at investment or licensing deals with Big Pharma for some drug indications.